Monday, February 28, 2011

Dozens of protesters camped overnight in the Wisconsin Capitol and vowed to be back in full force Monday after police backed away from threats to close the building, where demonstrators have held steady for two weeks to oppose Republican-backed legislation aimed at weakening unions.

The Supreme Court Justice defended his wife’s controversial involvement in conservative politics at a Federalist Society symposium for University of Virginia law students – saying his critics seem “bent on undermining” the Supreme Court. Politico’s Ken Vodel discusses. (Mitchell Reports)

President Barack Obama tried to seize the political middle in the continuing fight over health care reform Monday, telling a group of governors that he's willing to provide states more flexibility in their implementation of the overhaul signed into law last year.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich intends to take a formal step toward entering the 2012 presidential race within the next two weeks, Republican officials said Sunday, after he spent months traveling to important primary and caucus states.

Antsy for results, Tea Party supporters gathered for a weekend strategy summit say they're intent on making sure the Republicans they helped return to power last fall live up to promises to dramatically change course in Washington.

Friday, February 25, 2011

A court filing in the case of a former CIA officer accused of spilling secrets about Iran’s nuclear program provides new details about the extraordinary measures Justice Department prosecutors are using to identify government leakers.

Are we headed for the first government shutdown in 16 years? First Read explains how we got here. Plus, a new NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, the latest jobs report, Scott Walker on Meet the Press, Huckabee’s book tour kicks off, Obama meets with Mexico’s Calderon and raises money in Florida.

When some of the nation's largest banks were bailed out by the government in 2008 at the beginning of the global financial crisis, "too big to fail" was a phrase commonly heard as Washington argued why it had to help.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is ordering an investigation into a scathing Rolling Stone magazine report that says the Army ordered soldiers trained in "psychological operations" to manipulate visiting lawmakers to secure more troops and funding for the war, the military said Thursday.

Wisconsin state troopers were dispatched Thursday to try to find at least one of the 14 Senate Democrats who have been on the run for eight days to delay a vote on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to strip collective bargaining rights from nearly all public employees.

President Barack Obama has ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as only between a man and woman, according to a statement Wednesday from Attorney General Eric Holder.

Wisconsin state Sen. Chris Larson packed just his toothbrush and one extra shirt as he and 13 fellow Democrats fled the state to avoid near certain passage of the Republican governor's contentious plan to strip government workers of their collective bargaining rights.

A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit claiming that President Barack Obama's requirement that all Americans have health insurance violates the religious freedom of those who rely on God to protect them.

White House official Elizabeth Warren, best known for her outspoken criticism of the banking industry, praised that same group during a Tuesday conference on the one-year anniversary of the credit card laws.

U.S. authorities were keeping a close watch on Libya's rapidly unfolding political crisis Monday in part to see what possibilities might exist for meaningful reform, a senior Obama administration official said.

As union supporters launch a sixth day of protests at the Wisconsin Capitol, the Republican governor reiterates that he won't compromise on a bill that would eliminate most of public employees' collective bargaining rights.

So there is Abraham Lincoln -- Henry Fonda, actually, in a stovepipe hat -- walking toward the horizon as the gorgeous strains of an orchestra swell up behind him. Soon the orchestra is joined by a choir, the strings and the voices blending into a beautiful, almost ethereal, rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Thunder crackles in the cinematic sky.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

The House of Representatives passed a government spending bill after a marathon session Saturday morning that slashes more than $60 billion in federal funding for the seven months remaining in the 2011 fiscal year.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Sarah Palin, in a rare public appearance at which reporters were allowed, praised lawmakers threatening to vote against raising the federal debt ceiling. She stuck to her guns on "death panels" Thursday and continued tweaking the first lady's efforts to fight childhood obesity, but she chided some of her own supporters for sustaining the "annoying" claims that President Barack Obama is foreign-born and Muslim.

The Pentagon's top civilian and military leaders implored Congress Wednesday not to cut too deeply into military spending, plunging into a heated political debate over how to curtail defense costs without imperiling U.S. strategic interests at a time the military is fighting two wars.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday ordered a state government hiring freeze amid California's $26.6 billion fiscal crisis, hours after he dropped a lawsuit filed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over whether the governor has the authority to pay state workers minimum wage.

Fewer potential presidential candidates are spending this winter in Iowa, home to the nation's first caucuses, and some wonder if the state party's shift to the right could be scaring away some politicians.

Middle Eastern leaders "can't be behind the curve" as their populations demand change, President Barack Obama said Tuesday after protesters forced out Egypt's longtime strongman and faced a government crackdown in Iran.

A two-year grand jury investigation into whether John Edwards violated election laws by trying to cover up an affair with a campaign videographer has reached a decisive point. NBC News' Lisa Myers reports.

The Obama administration launched into diplomatic outreach throughout the Middle East Saturday, even as it tries to determine the composition of the Egyptian military council and the exact lines of authority in the future Egyptian government.

President Barack Obama outlined plans Thursday to extend wireless coverage to 98% of Americans over the next five years, arguing that a new telecommunications investment is needed to help the U.S. economy compete in a rapidly modernizing global marketplace.

First Read has obtained a copy of the straw poll for the Conservative Political Action Conference, which kicks off Thursday. It includes 15 potential GOP presidential candidates — along with some interesting questions.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned Wednesday that the threat of terrorism against the United States was in some ways "at its most heightened state" since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

President Obama has a noble idea. He argues that if the government is going to spend money to give a boost to the economy, whose growth is slow and anemic, why not use those funds to buy goodies we want anyhow?

Members of Congress told senior Pakistani leaders that billions of dollars of U.S. aid are in jeopardy unless an American diplomat, detained since January 27 in connection with the shooting deaths of two Pakistani civilians, is released.

The centrist Democratic Leadership Council, which helped Bill Clinton win the White House in 1992, is on the verge of closing its doors. What hurt the DLC more than anything else? It never figured out how to survive when Clinton was no longer the Democratic Party's center of gravity.

The demonstrations that erupted on January 25 were driven by Egyptians' aspirations for greater dignity in their lives. Most Egyptians have seen their standard of living deteriorate over the past decade because of rising unemployment, persistent inflation and stagnant wages.

The demonstrations that erupted on January 25 were driven by Egyptians' aspirations for greater dignity in their lives. Most Egyptians have seen their standard of living deteriorate over the past decade because of rising unemployment, persistent inflation and stagnant wages.

When the Egyptian people took to the streets of Cairo to protest the oppressive government of President Hosni Mubarak, they instantly challenged one of the most powerful strains of U.S. foreign policy thinking.

Four-star Army Gen. Peter Chiarelli -- the number two general in the U.S. army -- says he is absolutely not offended that Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett mistook him for a waiter at a fancy Washington dinner this week and asked him for a glass of wine.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a good friend and U.S. ally, and he urged the Obama administration to move cautiously as turmoil continued to shake that nation's government.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

A U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty that limits the number of atomic warheads the former Cold War foes can possess and allows them to inspect each other's arsenals — securing a key foreign policy goal of President Barack Obama — went into effect Saturday.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Before he took office, President Obama repeatedly promised voters and Democrats in Congress that he’d fight for changes to bankruptcy laws to help homeowners. Some Democrats, however, now say the administration actually undermined this effort.

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld concludes in his new autobiography that the war in Iraq has been worth the cost and remains largely unapologetic about his handling of the conflict, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama signed ratification documents for America's new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia on Wednesday, clearing the way for the two powers to put the landmark accord into effect.

President Barack Obama's upcoming budget will lay out a credible plan to lower the U.S. deficit but the funding gap will grow initially due to the extension of tax cuts, Obama's budget chief said Wednesday.